The price of gold continued to stabilize on Wednesday, but the free fall in gold mining stocks that was sparked by the yellow metal’s recent decline went on.

Shares of , a large gold producer, hit a fresh 52-week low, declining by 7.86%. Its stock is now down 49% in 2013. Novagold, a small and speculative gold mining play, saw its stock slump by more than 7%. Market Vectors Gold Miners, an ETF of large miners, was down more than 5%, and an ETF for smaller so-called junior miners also fell by more than 5%.

Why have gold mining companies continued to crash? The price of gold was up 4% to $1,373 an ounce in afternoon trading in New York. It's the second straight day gold has traded up after tumbling on Friday and Monday.

Investors seem to be concerned about what the increasing cost of mining will mean when coupled with a weaker gold price—narrowing margins and more pressure on cash flows at gold mines. In addition, the speculative frenzy around gold mining in recent years meant that companies and investors pursued gold mines that look a lot less economical with gold trading below $1,400 as opposed to above $1,500, or even $1,700, the level at which gold was trading hands not so long ago.

There is also, suddenly, a lot less room for error. Take a look at , a gold mining benchmark. The Canadian company was forced to suspend work recently on its Pascua Lama mine on the Chilean side of the high altitude Andes. That’s where the vast majority of the mine’s orebody sits, as opposed to in Argentina, where the rest of the mine is located. The setback couldn't have happened at a worse time.

For the last decade Barrick pursued aggressive big gold projects with the market wind at its back, but now its $14 billion debt load and cost overruns are much more problematic. “Having some of the industry’s biggest mines, Barrick has been most exposed to capital spending overruns and is still in growth mode while investors have changed,” JPMorgan wrote in a report this week downgrading Barrick’s stock. “These uncertainties have been compounded by the recent pullback in gold prices.” The stock slumped another 6.48% on Wednesday and is down by nearly 50% in 2013.

The reverberations of the gold price correction will continue to be felt even if volatility in the price of gold subsides.